Badfinger (Max)

Buzzcocks – Everybody’s Happy Nowadays

This catchy song is hard to get out of your head once you hear the chorus…but it’s a good thing. Lead singer Pete Shelley wrote this song. It was released as a single only and peaked at #29 in 1979 in the UK.

This song is based on a the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel Brave New World, in which culture and art have been excised from society, leaving the population in a mindless state of contentment and pharmaceutical bliss. One character says: “I am free. Free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody’s happy nowadays.”

In 2007, this was used in a commercial for the AARP showing spry, mature adults frolicking at a birthday party. The tagline: “An organization for people who have birthdays.”

Steve Diggle on the commercial. “I thought, it’s going to be bad for our image – it’s for old people,” “Then… I realized it was for people 50 and over and I realized me and Pete are over 50.”

The chose the name Buzzcocks after reading the headline, “It’s the Buzz, Cock!”, in a review of the TV series Rock Follies in Time Out magazine. The “buzz” is the excitement of playing on stage; “cock” is northern English slang meaning friend.

After splitting up in 1983, Pete Shelley and guitarist Steve Diggle reunited in 1989, and they released six well received albums. Their last album was The Way released in 2014. Lead singer and songwriter Pete Shelley died in 2018.

From Songfacts

In the song, the singer has relieved his misery by entering a similar state where “Life’s an illusion, love is a dream.” It starts with him explaining:

I was so tired of being upset
Always wanting something I never could get
Life’s an illusion love is a dream
But I don’t know what it is

At the end of the song, it switches voice, with the singer imparting his newfound understanding:

Bet you are tired of being upset
Always wanting something you never can get
Life’s no illusion love’s not a dream
Now I know just what it is

Buzzcocks lead singer Pete Shelley wrote this song. “I’ve come to the idea that nothing exists,” he told Sounds regarding the meaning behind it. “There is no world. Or it doesn’t really matter if there is. The way I’m affected by things is the way by which I want them to affect me.”

The group is from England, where they had most of their success with rock songs like this one that were both melodic and subversive. “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” became one of their most popular songs, but also alienated some of their hard-core fans who felt it was a sell-out to pop.

Everybody’s Happy Nowadays

I was so tired of being upset
Always wanting something I never could get
Life’s an illusion, love is a dream
But I don’t know what it is

Everybody’s happy nowadays
Everybody’s happy nowadays

I was so tired of being upset
Always wanting something I never could get
Life’s an illusion, love is a dream
But I don’t know what it is

‘Cause everybody’s happy nowadays
Everybody’s happy nowadays

Life’s an illusion, love is the dream
But I don’t know what it is
Everyone’s saying things to me
But I know it’s okay, okay

Everybody’s happy nowadays
Everybody’s happy nowadays

Life’s an illusion, love is a dream
Life’s an illusion, love is the dream
Life’s the illusion, love is a dream
Life’s the illusion, love is the dream

Everybody’s happy nowadays
Everybody’s happy nowadays, days

Bet you are tired of being upset
Always wanting something you never can get
Life’s no illusion, love’s not a dream
Now, I know just what it is

Everybody’s happy nowadays
Everybody’s happy nowadays

…

Keys – I Don’t Wanna Cry…. Power Pop Friday

This fantastic English band was active between 1979 through 1983. The Keys attracted a lot of attention. They had a producer who I would have never guessed. Joe Jackson…I just never thought of him producing a power pop record.

The band included main songwriter and bassist Drew Barfield, guitarists
Steve Tatler and Ben Grove, and former Paul McCartney and Wing’s drummer Geoff Britton.

They were signed to A&M records and released the U.K. their only LP “The Keys Album”. The album drew rave reviews, but unfortunately it didn’t sell very well. Besides the album, the label released six singles. Due to a lack of interest The Keys split in 1983.

I listen to the album and I see why they got great reviews…I just can’t figure why they didn’t sell. I Don’t Wanna Cry was the A side and the B side was a song called Listening In. I have the video below…both songs are good power pop.

David Silvia from Allmusic: One of powerpop cornerstones ever. A hidden classic and a real masterpiece. Pop at it’s best

I Don’t Wanna Cry

Was it really just our last good night
when I saw the light and I know
that you’ve been telling lies
Oh, no, not me, I don’t wanna cry
You could talk about it all night long
but the feeling’s gone and
I don’t need you to tell me why
Oh no, not me, I don’t wanna cry

‘Cos you know, I’ve got you figured out
and you have got, nothing to shout about
if this is love, I don’t really wanna play
I wanna know why you want to stay

I know all about your little plan
find a fool and check up the thing you can
well, it seems is never gonna be that way
I wanna know what you want to stay
ESTRIBILLO

Oh no, not me, I don’t wanna cry
Oh no, not me, I don’t wanna cry
I don’t wanna cry
I don’t wanna cry
I don’t wanna cry
I want to know what you want to stay

Pink Floyd – Scarecrow

The song was the on their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn…the song was released 2 months earlier as the B side to the single See Emily Play. I really like this early Pink Floyd. You can see the beginning and know where it went from here.

It’s more like a psychedelic folk song. Syd Barrett wrote the song. Barrett compares his own existence to that of the scarecrow, who, while sadder is also resigned to his fate.

The single, See Emily Play/Scarecrow peaked at #6 in the UK and #134 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.

From Wiki:

A promotional film for the song, made for a Pathé newsreel and filmed in early July 1967, features the band in an open field with a scarecrow, generally fooling around. It shows Roger Waters falling down as if he were shot, and Nick Mason exchanging his hat with the scarecrow’s.^[5] Part of this film has been featured in Waters’ live performances of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”.

A second promo was filmed in 1968 in Brussels, Belgium, with David Gilmour replacing Barrett, and Waters lip-syncing while playing his Rickenbacker bass with a violin bow.

Scarecrow

The black and green scarecrow as everyone knows
Stood with a bird on his hat and straw everywhere
He didn’t care

He stood in a field where barley grows

His head did no thinking
His arms didn’t move except when the wind cut up
Rough and mice ran around on the ground

He stood in a field where barley grows

The black and green scarecrow is sadder than me
But now he’s resigned to his fate
‘Cause life’s not unkind – he doesn’t mind

He stood in a field where barley grows

Twilight Zone – A Nice Place to Visit

★★★★★ April 15, 1960 Season 1 Episode 28

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is a great one. You will see Mr. French from Family Affair like you have never seen him before. The acting and the twist both are top notch in this episode. I’ve watched this many times and it just keeps getting better. The Twilight Zone can highlight the dregs of society better than any other show I know. Rocky Valentine is not a well known criminal, just a lowlife, and a drag on humanity. A man who doesn’t have a thought for anyone but himself.

There is a fantastic last line given by Pip (Sebastian Cabot) to Rocky. it sums up the episode…which I won’t give away here. (The video below gives it away). On a deeper level this episode has an interesting proposition. When you get everything you want… and everything goes your way… how can that be a bad thing? We find out how in this episode.

Mickey Rooney was the first choice to play Valentine. In a memo to Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont suggested, should Rooney not be available, that Serling himself consider playing the part. Serling declined and Rooney ended up being unavailable.

Sebastian Cabot had to bleach his hair white for the role and it took three months for the actor’s hair to return to its original dark color.

This show was written by Charles Beaumont

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Portrait of a man at work, the only work he’s ever done, the only work he knows. His name is Henry Francis Valentine, but he calls himself “Rocky”, because that’s the way his life has been – rocky and perilous and uphill at a dead run all the way. He’s tired now, tired of running or wanting, of waiting for the breaks that come to others but never to him, never to Rocky Valentine. A scared, angry little man. He thinks it’s all over now but he’s wrong. For Rocky Valentine, it’s just the beginning.

Summary

Rocky Valentine is a small-time hood who has been on the wrong side of the law for most of his life. After robbing a pawn shop, he is gunned down by the police and awakens to be met by Mr. Pip, who describes himself as a guide to his new surroundings. Rocky can’t quite believe where he’s ended up as he can have anything he desires. He’s living in a beautiful apartment, never loses at the casino and is always surrounded by beautiful women. What good deed could he have done in life to deserve this. After a month or so however the shine of having anything and everything wears off.

The video has spoilers.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

A scared, angry little man who never got a break. Now he has everything he’s ever wanted – and he’s going to have to live with it for eternity – in The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Larry Blyden … Henry Francis ‘Rocky’ Valentine
Sebastian Cabot … Mr. Pip
John Close … Cop (uncredited)
Barbara English … Dancing Girl (uncredited)
Charles Fogel … Casino Patron (uncredited)
George Ford … Casino Patron (uncredited)
Peter Hornsby … Croupier (uncredited)
Robert McCord … Waiter (uncredited)
Bill Mullikin … Parking Attendant (uncredited)
Nels P. Nelson … Short Cop (uncredited)
Murray Pollack … Casino Patron (uncredited)
Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Norman Stevans … Casino Patron (uncredited)
Wayne Tucker … Croupier (uncredited)
Sandra Warner … Girl (uncredited)

Del Lords – How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?

The title was enough for me to take a listen to this band. They combined 60’s garage rock, country, blues, and folk influences to become one of the many 80’s roots rock bands.

Thanks to Paul for bringing this band up.

The Del Lords were formed in the early ’80s by Scott Kempner of New York punk group the Dictators. They emerged from the’70s new wave scene…which the band never quite fit. Kempner gathered together Eric Ambel of Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, drummer Frank Funero (now with Cracker) and bassist Manny Caiati and set out as The Del-Lords.

How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live? is an American folk song originally recorded 1929 in New York City. It was written, composed, and performed by Blind Alfred Reed, accompanying himself on the violin.

The song tells of hard times during the Great Depression. It is considered an early example of a protest song. In 2020, the song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The song was on their Frontiers album released in 1984.

The Del-Lords lived together, played together, recorded and released records as a band through 1990. At the urging of the Spanish Promoter Pepe Ugena they reformed the band in the last decade and recorded and released their most recent music in 2013 on the album Elvis Club.

How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?

How can a poor man stand such times and live
How can a poor man stand such times and live
How can a poor man stand
How can a poor man stand
How can a poor man stand such times and live

The doctor comes around with his face all bright
And he swears, in a little while, it’ll be alright
All he gives you is a humbug pill
A dose of dope and a great big bill
How can a poor man stand such times and live

There once was a time when everything was cheap
But the prices nowadays nearly put the man to sleep
When we get out grocery bill
Man I feel like makin’ out our will
How can a poor man stand such times and live

How can a poor man stand such times and live
How can a poor man stand such times and live
I give all I’ve got to give
I get my pay and say, is this it
How can a poor man stand such times and live

Tell you what
This poor boy’s got some big plans of his own
I’m gonna call up a coupla friends on the telephone
Tell ’em, Bring some records and bring some beer
Then we can just hang out over here
How can a poor man stand such times and live

How can a poor man stand such times and live
How can a poor man stand such times and live
How can a poor man stand
How can a poor man stand
How can a poor man stand such times
How can a poor man stand such times
How can a poor man stand such times and live
And live

….

10,000 Maniacs – Like The Weather…. 80’s Underground Mondays

I saw this band in the late eighties and it was one of my concert highlights. The song peaked at #68 in the Billboard 100 and #37 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1988.

The phrase “unique voice” could have easily have been made for Natalie Merchant. I mean that in the best way. When you hear Natalie you won’t mistake her for Linda Ronstadt, Steve Nicks, Dolly Parton, or Janis Joplin…You know it’s Merchant.

What I liked about this song and their music when I first heard it was the bright happy music set against the dark/sad lyrics…I really like the contrast. The band loved up-tempo songs but Natalie liked the darker lyrics.

Lead singer Natalie Merchant was 17 years old when she was invited to try out for the vocals. She fit, and the group, which started as Still Life, formed around her. They performed together for the first time in 1981 – Merchant was about 10 years younger than her bandmates.

The band got its name from the 1964 film Two Thousand Maniacs!, expanded to 10,000 because there were originally five of them. The group has accumulated a legion of former members thanks to its revolving-door lineup history, but the most famous and founding member was Natalie Merchant. Merchant left in 1993 to start a solo career, but the group kept going without her, replaced by Mary Ramsey.

Bass Player Steven Gustafson: We liked to play toe-tapping music,”Stuff you could dance to with a big beat. Her view of the world was sometimes in stark contrast to that joy we got from playing. It made us unique.”

From Songfacts

The first charting single for 10,000 Maniacs (#68 US), “Like the Weather” was written by lead singer Natalie Merchant, and is simply about being in a foul mood on a day when the weather is horrible and she can’t find a good reason to get out of bed.

The video was directed by Adrian Edmondson, who is best known for his work as an actor: he starred in the British shows The Young Ones and Bottom. Edmondson is also a comedian, and his sardonic wit is at play in this clip, which finds Merchant in a beatific state amid a colorful, breezy set as she sings the rather morose lyrics.

Like The Weather

The color of the sky as far as I can see is coal grey.
Lift my head from the pillow and then fall again.
With a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
A quiver in my lips as if I might cry.

Well by the force of will my lungs are filled and so I breathe.
Lately it seems this big bed is where I never leave.
Shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
Quiver in my voice as I cry,

“What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away.”

I hear the sound of a noon bell chime.
Now I’m far behind.
You’ve put in ’bout half a day
while here I lie
with a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
A quiver in my lip as if I might cry,

“What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away?”

Do I need someone here to scold me
or do I need someone who’ll grab and pull me out of this four poster dull torpor pulling downward.
For it is such a long time since my better days.
I say my prayers nightly this will pass away.

The color of the sky is grey as I can see through the blinds.
Lift my head from the pillow and then fall again
with a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
A quiver in my voice as I cry,

“What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away?”
I shiver, quiver, and try to wake.

Twilight Zone – The Big Tall Wish

★★★★ April 8, 1960 Season 1 Episode 28

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This was an important episode regardless of the story. It’s well documented that Rod Serling was against bigotry. He not only talked the talk, he put it into action with this episode with a nearly all black cast. After the airing of this episode, which was revolutionary for American television, The Twilight Zone was awarded the 1961 Unity Award for Outstanding Contributions to Better Race Relations.

It is a good episode. A child that believes in magic and a jaded boxer who long ago lost his belief. It explores the innocence in children and what little is left in adults.

The child tries to make the aging jaded boxer Bolie believe in the magic of wishing but Bolie just cannot do it. In the world Bolie lives in, wishing and hoping for the hardships to end, is never going to happen. The only real choice is to struggle through each day and fight if necessary when things block your path. The ending of this one surprised me.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

In this corner of the universe, a prizefighter named Bolie Jackson, 183 pounds and an hour and a half away from a comeback at St. Nick’s Arena. Mr. Bolie Jackson, who, by the standards of his profession is an aging, over-the-hill relic of what was, and who now sees a reflection of a man who has left too many pieces of his youth in too many stadiums for too many years before too many screaming people. Mr. Bolie Jackson, who might do well to look for some gentle magic in the hard-surfaced glass that stares back at him.

Summary

Bolie Jackson is a professional boxer whose best years are behind him. He’s well-liked in his neighborhood and adored by Henry, a young lad who lives next door. He hurts his hand in an altercation with sleazy boxing manager and as a result is badly beaten in a televised boxing match. He’s apparently down and out for the count but young Henry has a special ability – something his mother calls the big wish – that changes the outcome of the match. When Bolie learns what he’s done he refuses to believe in what Henry’s done with the inevitable consequences

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Mr. Bolie Jackson, 183 pounds, who left a second chance lying in a heap on a rosin-spattered canvas at St. Nick’s Arena. Mr. Bolie Jackson, who shares the most common ailment of all men, the strange and perverse disinclination to believe in a miracle, the kind of miracle to come from the mind of a little boy, perhaps only to be found in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
Ivan Dixon … Bolie Jackson
Steven Perry … Henry Temple
Kim Hamilton … Frances Temple
Walter Burke … Joe Mizell
Henry Scott … Thomas

…

Cult – Edie (Ciao Baby)

This post is probably tilted a little more about the subject of the song than the song…I was interested in Edie when I was a teenager…she was an interesting and troubled person.

I watched the movie Ciao! Manhattan when I was around 15 years old. Her life was a mess and I started to read more about her. In the mid-sixties she was hanging out with Bob Dylan, Bob Neuwirth, Robbie Robertson and Andy Warhol.

This song of course is about Edie Sedgwick, a socialite who formed part of the artist Andy Warhol’s Factory scene in New York in the ’60s. Sedgwick was featured in several underground Warhol films, including Poor Little Rich Girl and Beauty No. 2. She soon would break from Warhol and wanted to start a legitimate film career but that never really got off the ground.

Her final movie role was as Susan Superstar in Ciao! Manhattan, which was written and directed by John Palmer and David Weisman.

She lived a troubled life that was plagued by mental health issues and drug addictions. In 1971, Sedgwick died of an overdose. She was 28 years old. She was filming Ciao Manhattan when she died…they wrote that in the film.

The 2008 film, Factory Girl, starring Sienna Miller, is about Sedgwick.

The song peaked at #93 in the Billboard 100, #62 in Canada, #17 in New Zealand, and #32 in the UK in 1989.

The song was on the album Sonic Temple that peaked at #10 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, and #3 in the UK Album Charts.

From Songfacts

The Cult’s front man, Ian Astubury, became interested in Sedgwick while the band were recording their Electric album in New York: “It was kinda like I was really interested in Warhol’s scene, The Velvet Underground [who Warhol managed between 1965-1967], and really interested in Edie Sedgwick and just was compelled to write something about it.” Guitarist, Billy Duffy added: “Just being in New York you can get wrapped up in it. It’s a very special place. That’s just basically what the songs about. It’s not really about her particularly, it’s her used as an example.”

Sedgwick was quite a muse: she had a brief affair with Bob Dylan and his song “Just Like A Woman” is reportedly about her.

Edie (Ciao Baby)

Always said you were a youthquaker, Edie
A stormy little world shaker
Oh, Warhol’s darling queen, Edie
An angel with a broken wing

The dogs lay at your feet, Edie
Oh, we caressed you cheek
Oh, stars wrapped in your hair, Edie
Life without a care
But your not there

Oh, caught up in an endless scene
Yeah, paradise a shattered dream
Oh, wired on the pills you took, Edie
Your innocence dripped blood, sweet child

The dogs lay at your feet, Edie
Oh, we caressed your cheek
Oh, stars wrapped in your hair
Oh, life without a care
Ciao baby

Shake it, boy

Oh, sweet little sugar talker
Paradise dream stealer
Oh, Warhol’s little queen, Edie
An angel with a broken wing, oh

The dogs lay at your feet, Edie
Oh, we caressed your cheek, well
Stars wrapped in your hair
Life without a care yeah, yeah, yeah

Don’t you know paradise takes time?
Ciao baby, yeah
Ciao baby
Ciao baby, yeah
Ciao baby

…

Twilight Zone -Execution

★★★★ April 1, 1960 Season 1 Episode 26

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Albert Salmi was a wonderful character actor. He would appear in two more Twilight Zones and all of them involved time travel. You could see Albert on TV shows through the 80s. This is a looked over episode that I do enjoy but it’s not without it’s faults. The way the time travel happens is unique but it’s the delivery that gets a little clumsy. I give it 4 stars because of the plot and the way they showed an 19th century primitive dropped into the loud modern world.

My biggest fault with this episode is the foolish way Professor Manion (Russell Johnson) handles Joe Caswell (Albert Salmi) after knowing what kind of man he was after he got there. Salmi’s acting is the standout in this. He is great at playing bad guys. Caswell is a hot-tempered sociopath who has no conscious. He makes a believable time traveler from the old west.

Watch for Russell Johnson (as Professor Manion) who will be remembered as the Professor off of Gilligan’s Island.

This show was written by Rod Serling and George Clayton Johnson

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Commonplace—if somewhat grim—unsocial event known as a necktie party, the guest of dishonor a cowboy named Joe Caswell, just a moment away from a rope, a short dance several feet off the ground, and then the dark eternity of all evil men. Mr. Joe Caswell, who, when the good Lord passed out a conscience, a heart, a feeling for fellow men, must have been out for a beer and missed out. Mr. Joe Caswell, in the last, quiet moment of a violent life.

Summary

In the late 19th century, Joe Caswell is about to be hanged for murder, when he vanishes into thin air. He’s been snatched by Prof. Manion’s time machine and brought 80 years into the future. Caswell was selected at random and Manion can see the rope marks on his neck. Caswell is eager to see his new world but Manion wants to send him back. When Caswell runs off into the night, his new world proves to be too much for him. Justice is served in the end and a murderer hangs.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

This is November 1880, the aftermath of a necktie party. The victim’s name—Paul Johnson, a minor-league criminal and the taker of another human life. No comment on his death save this: justice can span years. Retribution is not subject to a calendar. Tonight’s case in point in The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Albert Salmi … Joe Caswell
Russell Johnson … Prof. Manion
Than Wyenn … Paul Johnson
George Mitchell … Old Man
Jon Lormer … Minister
Fay Roope … Judge
Richard Karlan … Bartender
Joe Haworth … TV Cowboy (uncredited)

…

Railroad Jerk – Natalie

I love the opening riff to this song! It sounds like a riff from the old 70’s ZZ Top with a little Stones thrown in…. but a little rawer. I have to thank my blogger friend CB who mentioned this band.

In 1989 singer and guitarist Marcellus Hall formed the band in 1989 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with bassist Tony Lee and drummer Jez Aspinall. Within a few months, guitarist Chris Mueller also joined.

I hear a mixture of The Cramps and The Stones. This was on their 4th album The Third Rail released in 1996. The band recorded demos for a fifth Railroad Jerk LP which was to be entitled ‘Masterpiecemeal’. This final LP was never released. Dave Varenka and Marcellus Hall went on to form the band White Hassle.

It’s not a lot about this band, not even the song’s lyrics so I’m including an excerpt from AllMusic.

Railroad Jerk skewer blues, country, rock, and noise into a messy, bohemian post-punk celebration of roots rock. Formed in 1989 by guitarist/vocalist Marcellus Hall and bassist/vocalist Tony Lee in Trenton, NJ, the duo added drummer Jez Aspinall and guitarist Chris Muller by early 1990; the group recorded their self-titled debut for Matador Records in 1990. After its release, Aspinall left the band and was replaced by Steve Cercio; Muller was kicked out of the band and replaced by Alec Stephen. The quartet released their acclaimed second album, Raise the Plow, in 1993; after its release, Cercio left the band and was replaced by Dave Varenka. Railroad Jerk released its third album — its most highly-praised yet — in spring of 1995. Third Rail, the group’s fourth album, also received positive reviews upon its fall 1996 release.

The Magnificent Seven

Hanspostcard is hosting a movie draft from 12 different genres…this is my Western entry.

There have been actors and musicians that exuded cool…Steve McQueen would be one of the top ones…and he was just starting in this movie…and not the star.

This cast is just incredible… Along with McQueen, you have Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, Brad Dexter, and the great Yul Brynner. We are not talking about cameos here…Brynner is the unquestioned leader of this band of mercenary gunfighters…but money is not the most important thing to most of them. They believe in Brynner’s character and the adventure.

I could go through talking about each actor, but I won’t…there are a few I’ll touch on. Eli Wallach… did a masterful portrayal of Calvera. He is one actor that I would have loved to have met. His personality was so big in films, but he didn’t over act…he was just that good.

The actor that caught my attention the most in this was the newcomer of the seven. Chico, played brilliantly by Horst Buchholz. His character was young, impatient, cocky, but a nice kid who you saw grow in the movie. He wanted to join the six fighters, but he wasn’t accepted until he persisted and wore Chris Larrabee Adams (Yul Brynner) down.

John Sturges directed this movie and also The Great Escape plus Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This movie was not shot on some studio backlot somewhere. It was real locations and it showed.

A brief look at the plot. A gang of bandits terrorizes a small Mexican farming village each year. They ride in and take what they want like the village is their own personal store. Several of the village elders send three of the farmers into the United States to search for gunmen to defend them. They end up with seven, each of whom comes for a different reason. They must prepare the town to beat an army of thirty bandits who will arrive wanting food. In came the Magnificent Seven to defend the village and teach the farmers how to fight.

A little trivia about the movie. Yul Brynner had a major role in casting, and he wanted Steve McQueen in the movie. At the time McQueen was in a television western called Wanted: Dead or Alive.

They ended up not getting along because McQueen supposedly was trying to upstage Brynner. When McQueen was dying of cancer he called Brynner and made up with him for the trouble in the film. McQueen said: “I had to make it up with Yul ’cause without him I wouldn’t have been in that picture.”

It’s not only a great western, it has comedy, drama, and most of all…all the characters are real. There is a reason some of them were huge at the time and others went on to be not only popular but legends.

CAST

Yul Brynner … Chris Larabee Adams
Eli Wallach … Calvera
Steve McQueen … Vin Tanner
Horst Buchholz … Chico
Charles Bronson … Bernardo O’Reilly
Robert Vaughn … Lee
Brad Dexter … Harry Luck
James Coburn … Britt
Jorge Martínez de Hoyos … Hilario (as Jorge Martinez de Hoyas)
Vladimir Sokoloff … Old Man
Rosenda Monteros … Petra
Rico Alaniz … Sotero
Pepe Hern … Tomas
Natividad Vacío … Villager (as Natividad Vacio)
Mario Navarro … Boy with O’Reilly

…

Let’s Active – Every Word Means No…. Power Pop Friday

This is great 1980s college radio power pop. Everything is there you want…the jangle and the jangly hook.

Let’s Active was formed in 1981 by Mitch Easter, a guitarist and songwriter best known as a record producer, with Faye Hunter on bass. Drummer Sara Romweber, then 17 years old, joined to form the original trio two weeks before their first live performance. Their first performance was opening for R.E.M. in Atlanta, Georgia in 1981.

Let’s Active was critically praised but like their peers did not sell a ton a records. This song was on the 1983 EP Afoot and they would go on to release three more LPs in all before breaking up in 1990.

Mitch produced REM on their Chronic Town EP, Murmur, and Reckoning. Easter also produced Marshall Crenshaw, Suzanne Vega, and bunches of indie acts. He also took a trip to Memphis in 1978 with members of the dB’s to meet two members of Big Star.

Romweber quit the band in 1984 after the release of the Afoot EP and their debut full-length, Cypress. Later, she co-founded the group Snatches of Pink and performed with her brother as the Dex Romweber Duo. In 2014, she reunited with Mitch Easter as Let’s Active for a benefit show. She would die of a brain tumor in 2019. Bassist Faye Hunter died in 2013.

Mitch Easter:

“I could not imagine myself singing in a Johnny Winter-style voice about ‘I just wanna make love to you,’ but the new goofball lyrics were something I could pull off,’ “I read an article with Andy Partridge of XTC back then where he was saying at no other time in history would he have been allowed to be the singer in a band. And I felt just like that, you know.

“I had this weird voice, but now maybe I could be allowed to sing without suffering some hopeless comparison to Gregg Allman.’

Every Word Means No

Watching for a sound to lead me to where ever you are
I can’t help it I will always love you

It used to be no words could come between us
Any time was right for secret meetings
It’s different now and when you speak
Every word means no
Every word means no

I’m thinking, of things that never come to life
You’re going through some things so shallow
There’s nothing to fight

It used to be no words could come between us
Any time was right for secret meetings
It’s different now and when you speak and
Every word means no
Every word means no

And it’s just anathema
I haven’t lost my way
I’m looking around in directions
‘Cause all I ever thought about was you
I never noticed anything but you
Predicting, puts me down on shaky ground
I keep on thinking your looking at me
Do you want me around

It used to be no words could come between us
Any time was right for secret meetings
Now and then I forget the rules have changed
You always remind me
That every word means no, every word means no

Paul Simon – Old

I heard this in 2000 and it sounded like the Paul Simon of old…no pun intended. It’s about when people telling you…you are getting old whether you are there or not.

It was on the album You’re The One released in 2000. You’re The One was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2001. As a result Simon became the first artist to be nominated in that category in five consecutive decades (1960s-2000s). Paul McCartney also joined that club in 2006 with his album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.

You’re the One‘s generally upbeat tone arose out of his happy home life with singer Edie Brickell and their children… “the first time that I ever had domestic bliss.”

You’re The One peaked at #19 in the Billboard Album Chart, #8 in Canada, and #20 in the UK. This release was 3 years after his album Songs from the Capeman which contained songs from a Broadway Play he wrote.

Old

The first time I heard ‘Peggy Sue’, I was twelve years old
Russians up in a rocket ships and the war was cold
Now many wars have come and gone, genocide still goes on
Buddy Holly still goes on, but his catalog was sold

First time I smoked, guess what, paranoid
First time I heard ‘Satisfaction’, I was young and unemployed
Down the decades every year, summer leaves and my birthday’s here
And all my friends stand up and cheer

Say man you’re old
Getting old
You’re old
You’re getting old

We celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day
And Buddha found Nirvana along the Lotus Way
About fifteen hundred years ago the messenger Mohammed spoke
And his wisdom like a river flowed through hills of gold

Wisdom is old
The Koran is old
The Bible is old
Greatest story ever told

Disagreements?
Work ’em out

The human races walked the Earth for two point seven million
And we estimate the universe about thirteen to fourteen billion
When all these numbers tumble into your imagination
Consider that the Lord was there before creation

God is old
We’re not old
God is old
He made the mold

Take your clothes off
Adam and Eve

Twilight Zone – People Are Alike All Over

★★★★ March 25, 1960 Season 1 Episode 25

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

***Special announcement Watch all you can this month on Netflix because Netflix is not streaming the Twilight after June 30th…Fellow blogger Blackwing666 posted this here. If there was ever a show you would think about purchasing… The Twilight Zone would a great one.

Roddy McDowall was one of my favorite TV actors. He normally plays caring, worried, and vulnerable characters. This episode is another story on human nature…earth bound and Martians…are they the same all over? Sam Conrad will find out. It’s a good episode but doesn’t jump in the great category.

SPOILERS Below

You can take this episode in many ways…is it a commentary on humans being a caged animal instead of its keeper? Possibly a prelude to the Planet of the Apes? Does it comment on luxuries entrapping us when they become necessitates or just human nature? Its a very good episode of the Twilight Zone .

The living room set is the same one seen in The Twilight Zone: Third from the Sun (1960). It is a redressed version of George’s living room from The Time Machine

Rod Serling changed a couple of elements from the original source story (Brothers Beyond The Void, by Paul W. Fairman) for this episode. In the original story the protagonist is Marcusson and Conrad is only in the beginning of the story as Marcusson makes the trip to Mars alone. Serling also changed the climatic utterance from the story’s mundane “People are the same everywhere,” to his more poignant version. It isn’t clear why Serling changed the story and made Conrad the protagonist.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Paul W. Fairman

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

You’re looking at a species of flimsy little two-legged animal with extremely small heads, whose name is Man. Warren Marcusson, age thirty-five. Samuel A. Conrad, age thirty-one. They’re taking a highway into space, Man unshackling himself and sending his tiny, groping fingers up into the unknown. Their destination is Mars, and in just a moment we’ll land there with them.

Summary

Biologist Sam Conrad is scheduled to go on a mission to Mars and is genuinely concerned about what they will find there. The mission commander, Mark Marcusson, tells him there’s nothing to worry about as he firmly believes that God made everyone in his image; no matter what they find, he is certain that people are alike all over. They crash-land on Mars and Marcusson dies from his injuries. Conrad is happy to find that the people of Mars are very human-like, friendly and intelligent. They provide him with a home and promise him much more. Too late, however, he realizes that, just as Marcusson had said, people are alike all over.

Complete episode here

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Species of animal brought back alive. Interesting similarity in physical characteristics to human beings in head, trunk, arms, legs, hands, feet. Very tiny undeveloped brain. Comes from primitive planet named Earth. Calls himself Samuel Conrad. And he will remain here in his cage with the running water and the electricity and the central heat as long as he lives. Samuel Conrad has found The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Roddy McDowall … Sam Conrad
Susan Oliver … Teenya
Paul Comi … Marcusson
Byron Morrow … Martian
Vic Perrin … Martian
Vernon Gray … Martian
Herbert Winters … Martian Observer (uncredited)

…

Dwight Yoakam – Fast As You

I was playing in some club in 1994 and the other guitar player wanted to try a new song that he and the drummer knew. He said it was easy so we followed him and this was the song. It went over really well and I had never heard it before. We didn’t do that often…to attempt a song that most of us never heard but we kept playing it for the next couple of years.

The song crosses the country line into rock so I was surprised it didn’t rise higher in the Billboard 100.

The song peaked at #2 in the Billboard Country Charts, #5 in the Canadian Charts in 1993…it also peaked at #70 in the Billboard 100.

It was on his great album This Time released in the spring of 1993…it was a big hit, spawning three number two country singles — “Ain’t That Lonely Yet,” “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” and “Fast As You.”

Fast As You

Maybe someday I’ll be strong
Maybe it won’t be long
I’ll be the one who’s tough, yeah
You’ll be the one who’s got it rough

It won’t be long
And maybe I’ll be real strong

Maybe I’ll do things right
Maybe I’ll start tonight
You’ll learn to cry like me, girl
Baby, let’s just wait and see

Maybe I’ll start tonight
And do things right

You’ll control me, oh, so boldly
Rule me ’til I’m free
The pain that shakes me finally makes me
Get up off of my knees
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Maybe I’ll be fast as you
Maybe I’ll break hearts too
But I think that you’ll slow down
When your turn to hurt comes around

Maybe I’ll break hearts
And be as fast as you, uh

You’ll control me, oh, so boldly
Rule me ’til I’m free
The pain that shakes me finally makes me
Get up off of my knees

Maybe I’ll be fast as you
Maybe I’ll break hearts too
I think that you’ll slow down
When your turn to hurt comes around

Maybe I’ll break hearts
And be as fast as you
Maybe I’ll break hearts
And be as fast as you

Oh, sookie

Maybe someday I’ll be strong
Maybe it won’t be long
I’ll be the one who’s strong
You’ll be the one who’s got it rough

You’ll be the one who’s got it rough

…